Health Care

A long-awaited audit of Maryland's health insurance exchange has found that the state improperly billed the federal government $28.4 million as former Gov. Martin O'Malley's administration struggled to launch what would become one of the most troubled websites in the nation.

State auditors say Maryland's health department did not follow proper procedure when it hired a contractor to replace the system used to process Medicaid payments. The department later had to suspend work with the company.

Adding to its reach around the state, LifeBridge Health announced Friday it will absorb Carroll Hospital Center into its system Wednesday, agreeing to invest $250 million to renovate and expand the facility and its services.

He keeps a healthy diet, rarely has medical complaints and has little time to drop by the doctor's office, so like many Americans over 50, Ted Mathias just didn't get around to taking one of modern medicine's most significant examinations.

Minutes after taking her first breath outside the womb, Kathryn "Katie" Marie Wilusz cuddled on her mom's bare chest, gazing in the direction of her voice. Dad sat close by, dressed in scrubs, as she wrapped a tiny hand around his index finger.

Vibrant with big blue eyes and brown hair with a tint of red, 5-month-old Madison "Maddie" Wright had reached all her developmental milestones; she could roll over, sit up on her own and hold her head up.